Afghanistan’s national women’s football (soccer) team (Lionesses of Khorasan) will participate in the upcoming 2016 South Asian Games (SAG). Yesterday, the fixtures for the women’s competition were released, and Afghanistan and Bangladesh have been grouped with host country India in Group A. Group B will consist of Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Afghanistan’s first match will be against India on opening day, February 7th. The semi-final of the women’s football competition has been scheduled for February 13th, and the final is scheduled to take place on February 15th.

The first South Asian Games was started back in 1984. Afghanistan is a new member and this year will be the country’s third time participating in the South Asian Games. While the game of football was included when the South Asian Games first started, women’s football was only recently added in 2010. That same year Afghanistan’s men’s national team finished second, winning silver.

Afghanistan’s women’s team was only formed in 2007, and have gotten off to a shaky start, however, they are improving day by day. Events like the upcoming South Asian Games will give them more opportunities to gain experience and improve their skills as they face international level competition.